Wheel chock

ABSTRACT

A base member has a downwardly curved forward end portion which clamps the chock to a ground surface as soon as contact is made with a vehicle tire. The rear end of the base member pivotally mounts a movable member that has an outwardly and upwardly curved bottom edge for engaging the periphery of the tire as it moves into engagement with the chock. The curved nature of the movable member ensures continued intimate engagement with the tire. Abutments are attached to the base and movable members to function as mechanical stops after the tire has moved sufficiently onto the base.

United States Patent Hanley 1 Mar. 7, 1972 WHEEL CHOCK 3,074,512 1/1963Naur ..188/32 [72] Inventor: John J. H lay 6054650 Road Delta 3,542,15711/1970 Noah ..188/32 Colo' 8 1416 Primary Examiner-Duane A. Reger [22]Filed: May 1, 1970 Attorney-Clarence A. O'Brien and Harvey B. Jacobson[21] Appl. No.2 33,587 [57] ABSTRACT A base member has a downwardlycurved forward end portion gtsccll which clamps the chock toagroundsurface as soonascomact [58] Fieid 105/368 is made with a vehicle tire.The rear end of the base member pivotally mounts a movable member thathas an outwardly and upwardly curved bottom edge for engaging theperiphery [56] Reierences cued of the tire as it moves into engagementwith the chock. The

UNITED STATES PATENTS curved nature of the movable member ensurescontinued intimate engagement with the tire. Abutments are attached tothe 1,317,329 9/1919 Shoreday 188/32 X base and movable members to f ias mechanical stops 1,617,369 2/1927 Blakely r "188/32 after the tirehas moved sufficiently onto the base. 2,237,214 4/1941 Burkart.....188/32 2,895,569 7/1959 Nystrom ..188/32 6 Claims, 7 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDMAR 7 1922.

saw 2 0r 2 Fig.4.

uulalul II I I I I Jo n .1. Han/e v INVliN'I'OR.

BY Q4 7 am WHEEL CHOCK The present invention relates to wheel chocks andmore particularly to a wheel chock of the portable or collapsible type.

In the past, many different wheel chock designs ha e been conceived andused. A common type of collapsible chock includes pivotally mountedmembers that are capable of limited angular displacement, during wheelengagement, due to the use of linkages connecting the members. It hasbeen found that utilization of such linkages decreases the reliabilityof the device and fails to offer the user complete safety. Further,prior art chocks generally have plain forward edges that make carefulpersonal attention necessary when positioning the chock under a tire orwheel.

The present invention generically includes two movable parts including abase member and a pivotally mounted moving member. These members aresimply connected by a pivot pin and do not require the attachment ofstructurally unreliable linkage members. Both members have forward endpor tions that are contoured with a reverse arc with respect to thearcuate portions of a tire contacted by the members. The contour of thebase member forces the chock to become secured to a ground surface assoon as a tire makes significant contact with the forward curved portionof the .base .member. Also, the curved forward portion of the movablemember undergoes camming action by an engaged tire so that the movablemember follows the tire until abutments .connectedbetween the membersmake contact at which time further tire movement is prevented.

The reverse curvature, at the forward end-portions of the chock members,with respect to the contacted tire arc portions, produces an absoluteblock for an entering tire. Because the tire rests partially on the basemember of the wheel chock as soon as contact therewith is made, anyadvancement toward the movable member allows the tire to rest morefirmly on the bottom member thereby resulting in a firmer block of thetire. I

lnthe modern automobile with automatic transmission, itis sometimesnecessary to service the vehicle Withthetransmission .in a drive orreverse position while the engine is running. Any accidental movement ofthe vehicle towardithe plain forward edgesof conventional chocks couldcause them to jump orskip. However, the reversed arc curvature formed inthe members of the present-invention would not :permibthisaction tooccur. Further, the present device -is-simply collapsed and stored in acompact space.

- These together with othero'bjects and advantages which will becomesubsequently, apparent reside in the details of con-.

struction and operation as more fully 'hereinafterdescribed and claimed.reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a partihereof,wherein likenumeralsrefer to like partsthroughout, and'in-which:

FIG. I is aperspective view illustrating the operativeposition ofafirst-form ofithelinvention.

FIG. 2 .is a sectional view taken along a .plane passing throughsectionlineZ-ZofFlG. '1.

FIG. 3.is attransverse view taken along sectionj-linex3e3of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a-top.plan view of .asecondembodimentrof :the presentinvention whichis adaptedto handle-largeritire-and wheel sizes thanthelfirst embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a.longitudinal sectional-view.taken along.a plane,passingthrough sectionelineS-S.in-EIG. 4.

FIG. 6 isa transverse sectional .view .takenalongzatplane passingthrough sectiomlinedi-lS ofrEIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional viewtaken along=a-plane passing throughsectionline 7-.-7:of.FlG.-'5.

Referring to the .drawings ,and .more particularly FIG. I, referencenumeral 10 generally indicatesa=,first embodiment of the presentchock.invention. A second'embodimentto:be

discussed hereinafter. is substantially similarto ;that-.of the'firstembodiment but is somewhat-structurally modified to accept larger tiresand wheels.

As illustrated in FIG. I, a wheel tire I2 is adapted to engage a basechock member I4 and a pivotallymounted movable chock member .16, themembers being pivotally secured by a simple nut and bolt fastener 18passing through the rearward end portions of the members.

1 In FIGS. 2 and 3, the base member isseen to include a bottomrectangular plate 20 and an upper plate 24 that has a substantially flatintermediateportion that curves downwardly at 26 for attachedintersection with the forward end of plate 20. Side plates 28 connectthe underside of the overhanging upper plate 24 with the laterallyoffset bottom plate 20. Pivotsecuring plates 22 are laterally attachedto the rearward portions of respective plates 28. As will be noted fromFIG: 3, the hollow cross section of the base. member enhances thechock's lightweight characteristioxAn angle bracket or abutment 30 issecured by welding at opposite ends-thereof to the confronting innersurfaces of Plates 22. The bracket includes an angularly inclined flange32- that extends upwardly from the bottom plate ,20 at an angleapproximating 45. This flange serves as a contact forthe movable memberas explained hereinafter. A second flange 34 is disposed inper'pendieuiar relation to flange 32. Transversely extending cleats 36are suitablvatvtached to the underside of bottom plate '20 and serve toanchor the chock into a ground surface during use.

Considering the particular structure of the movable :member 16,reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating a topar'ectangular plate38 that attaches sideplates .40 perpendicularly to the lateral edges ofthe upper plate 38. The rearward portions of the sideplates .40 includesemicircular coplanar projections 42 that centrally receive thepivotbolt 18. The rear flange44 .of an angle iron or abutment .45isperpendieularly attached to the underside of top plate 38 while asecond right angle flange .46 of the angle iron 45 serves as a contactfor engaging the previously mentioned .contact 32 .of angle iron 30. Theengagerable flanges act as a'mechanical limit stop for the chockmembers. A .bottom plate 48 is -sui,t ably,.-at-tached to the undersideof sideplates 40 and curves upwardly and outwardly at the forward edge50 thereof. The

forward edge 50 has vbeen dimensioned so that it does not extend tothesame lengthas forwardedge 1 26. The bottom plate 48 extendsilaterally outwardly ,fI'OlTlrthB sideplates 40 and is dimensionally ,as=wideas the facing plate 24 of the base member 14. .As noted in FIGS. Iand "2, the forward edge .of *top plate 38intersectsand .issuitablyattached to the forward ,endportion 5.0.of:the bottom plate 48.ltshouldibe mentioned that the confronting ,faces ,of .the base andmovable members can have .rasped surfaces for enhancing gripping.Tangential contact 52,between:the,arc.-tirc ;portion;and;the reversedarc of thecunvedcnd '50=demonstratesaparticularcamming engagement.between tire and chuck members that ,ensures intimate engagement duringrolling of {the .tire :onto .the chock. The reversed arc.relationbetweemthenireand thc-forwarded ge S0 is :the sameas applied ,to:theforward edge 26 .of the base 7 .member ,and its, associatedcontacting arc-portion 53 .of .the .tire. Ahandle 54.issuitably,attached by means such as.weldi ng -to.-the upper.surfaceofrthertop plate 38,,and makes manipulaitionofzthechocka.simpleimattenswhen.not-in.use,.the,movablemember l6 is,collapsedinto contactiwiththeibasemernber asshownjntphantom in FlG. 3.

The second .embodimentof rthe vinvention .is illustrated inFlGS..4-'7..As.will be seenfromza cursory observationofthe ;figures,.thelbasicxstructure of thefrrstembodiment relates=to athelseeondembodiment, :the :latter having a .few structural -;modilications .for.partieularly adapting :the. second .embodi 1 ment-:tortires; and wheelsoflarger diameters.

For purposes =of convenience, the numbering of structural components.for the secondembodiment .(FIGS. 4-7) .correspondstogthose of thefirst'embodiment (FIG. l-3). T hus,

-for.e;x,ample, the second embodimentis denotedby reference numerall-l0whereas thefirstembodiment is'represented'by referencenumeral 10.

Tire 112: is seento be, in; amengaged, positiont-with respect-- to thebaselmembenlfl, and;the.movable,member-l:1 6.-As.in the i previousembodiment, a nut and bolt fastener 118 connects the members to allowpivotal displacement of the movable member. However, instead of thelaterally positioned rear plates 22 of embodiment 10, largersemicircular plates 122 are attached to the sideplates 128 of basemember 114 which enables the pivot pin 1 18 to be positioned at agreater height with respect to the upper plate 124 of the base member.By means of offsetting the pivot pin at a greater distance from the basemember, a larger tire arc can be received between the chock members. Asa consequence of this arrangement, a larger upwardly extendingsemicircular plate 142 is connected to each sideplate 140 in a directionperpendicular to the upper surface of the top plate 138 of the movablemember 116. This is in contrast to the smaller semicircular projection42 of the first embodiment that extended downwardly from the sideplates40.

Another difference between the embodiments exists in the bottom plate148 which is rearwardly foreshortened as compared with its counterpart48 in the first embodiment 10. Of course, there is no reason why thebottom plate 48 of the first embodiment cannot also be rearwardlyforeshortened. However, a more fully extended bottom plate 48 wasutilized for additional strength in the first embodiment inasmuch as therearward edge of this plate can be conveniently attached by welding, orthe like, to the projecting element 42. On the other hand, in the secondembodiment 110, this additional attachment cannot be made due to theupward direction of the projection 142.

With the exception of the discussed differences, the remainingstructural portions of the second embodiment are substantially the sameas that of the first embodiment and therefore need not be particularlydiscussed.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

I. A wheel chock comprising a base member and a movable member pivotallymounted to the base member, the members opening in response to urgingengagement by an entering wheel, the base member having a groundengaging plate and a wheel engaging plate positioned in spaced relationto the ground plate, the wheel engaging plate turning downwardly at theforward end thereof to intersect the ground plate at a reversed arcdirection with respect to a contacted peripheral portion of an enteringwheel, said movable member comprising a support plate and a second wheelengaging plate positioned in spaced relation to the support plate, thewheel engaging plate curving upwardly at the forward end thereof tointersect the support plate at a reversed arc direction with respect toa contacted peripheral portion of an engaged wheel.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the base member includes an abutment,and further wherein the movable member includes an abutment, theabutments making contact with each other after a preselected angularopening of the members occurs, said contact stopping further opening ofthe members thereby blocking the wheel.

3. The structure of claim I wherein the base member includes rearwardpivot securing plates positioned in overlying relation with rearwardprojections on the movable member, and further wherein the ends of apivot pin pass through the plates and the projections for producing apivotal mounting for the members.

4. The structure of claim 3 wherein the pivot pin extends transverselythrough the movable member.

5. The structure of claim 3 wherein the pivot pin extends transverselyabove the movable member.

6. The structure set forth in claim 3 wherein the bottom surface of theground plate attaches cleats for increasing the stationarycharacteristics of the base member with respect to the ground.

1. A wheel chock comprising a base member and a movable member pivotallymounted to the base member, the members opening in response to urgingengagement by an entering wheel, the base member having a groundengaging plate and a wheel engaging plate positioned in spaced relationto the ground plate, the wheel engaging plate turning downwardly at theforward end thereof to intersect the ground plate aT a reversed arcdirection with respect to a contacted peripheral portion of an enteringwheel, said movable member comprising a support plate and a second wheelengaging plate positioned in spaced relation to the support plate, thewheel engaging plate curving upwardly at the forward end thereof tointersect the support plate at a reversed arc direction with respect toa contacted peripheral portion of an engaged wheel.
 2. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the base member includes an abutment, and furtherwherein the movable member includes an abutment, the abutments makingcontact with each other after a preselected angular opening of themembers occurs, said contact stopping further opening of the membersthereby blocking the wheel.
 3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the basemember includes rearward pivot securing plates positioned in overlyingrelation with rearward projections on the movable member, and furtherwherein the ends of a pivot pin pass through the plates and theprojections for producing a pivotal mounting for the members.
 4. Thestructure of claim 3 wherein the pivot pin extends transversely throughthe movable member.
 5. The structure of claim 3 wherein the pivot pinextends transversely above the movable member.
 6. The structure setforth in claim 3 wherein the bottom surface of the ground plate attachescleats for increasing the stationary characteristics of the base memberwith respect to the ground.